Smokers in part of Kent have been warned – if you drop your cigarette butt in the street you face a hefty fine.

Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council (TMBC) is bringing in a private enforcement company to implement a borough-wide crackdown on littering in a project named No Ifs, No Butts.

Smokers who throw away their cigarette ends instead of putting them in one of the borough's 1,500 waste bins will be slapped with a £150 charge.

The same penalty will apply to those who drop their crisp packets or take-out coffee cups.

Dog owners who allow their pet to foul the street and don't clean up the mess face £80 fines.

More serious acts of fly-tipping will incur a £400 penalty.

The council is employing National Enforcement Solutions (NES) to implement the crackdown and warned that its operatives would be patrolling the streets not just in Tonbridge but in the villages across the borough.

The council already employs three enforcement officers of its own. A spokesman said they were not being made redundant. The private company is an additional resource adding another five operatives, which would free up the borough's staff to carry out more complex investigations such as tracking down fly-tippers.

The enforcement teams will also undertake a range of initiatives to discourage littering, including handing out portable ashtrays and dog poop bags.

The council will also be supporting school projects and helping volunteers organise sponsored litter picks to clean up their neighbourhoods.

Cllr Piers Montague, TMBC's cabinet member for waste and technical services, said: "Some people may think it’s unfair to get a fine for dropping a cigarette end but it’s contributing to our litter problem and to the costs of cleaning it up that we all pay for through our council tax.

"Cigarette ends also contain a range of toxins and are harmful to wildlife.

"So whether it’s cigarette butts, food wrappers or fly tipping, those who choose not to dispose of their rubbish responsibly shouldn’t be surprised to get a fixed penalty.

"By taking a tough line on litter while also providing educational initiatives, I believe this scheme has great potential to reduce the amount of waste on our streets and to keep our borough looking its best."

Those who receive a penalty will have their fine reduced from £150 to £100 if they pay up within 10 days.

NES has been contracted by the council for a 12-month trial period. Its staff will wear a uniform branded with both TMBC and NES logos.

The firm will not be paid by the council, but will get to keep all the income from any fixed penalty notices it issues, giving it plenty of incentive to catch offenders.

Similar schemes have already been tried in other boroughs across Kent – and have often proved controversial.

There have been accusations that the enforcement officers have been overzealous in catching offenders – spying on smokers from shop doorways in the hope they would discard a butt so they could pounce, rather than making themselves visible to act as a deterrent.

Canterbury City Council also contracted NES to tackle its litter problem in May. It replaced a previous private firm, Kingdom LA Support, which was criticised for targetting smokers as “easy pickings" with 96% of the fines issued being for discarded cigarette butts.

But Canterbury City Cllr Dave Wilson (Lab) said: "NES are no better.

"There are plenty of anecdotal stories about such behaviour.

"The problem is that the operatives are incentivised to raise revenue, not to educate people to better behaviour.

"It's all about enforcement. The attitude is very much one of 'we saw you drop a cigarette butt, here's a hefty fine', rather than one of deterrence.

"This sort of thing is always much better done by staff employed directly by the council who can adopt a more flexible approach, and can also tackle the issues that really matter and would make a real difference to people's loves."

There has been an instance in Canterbury where NES staff accused a shopper of throwing a cigarette butt from her car window, following her into a Morrison's store to confront her. It later transpired that the woman was a non-smoker and entirely innocent.

But even council-employed enforcement staff can be criticised for overzealousness.

Maidstone council has taken the route of engaging its own enforcement officers.

But when one staff member tried to fine two builders who threw a cigarette butt into a wheelbarrow of cement they were mixing, the video of the resulting confrontation went viral.

A spokesman for Maidstone said: "We outsourced litter enforcement between 2010 and 2017 which helped drive behavioural change with the public.

"To continue that work the MBC Waste Crime Team was introduced which was created to focus on tackling all waste crime in-particular fly tipping.

"Since then litter enforcement has been carried out directly by council officers.

"From 2018 to 2021, we had Street Scene Enforcement Officers, but there was a need for a growing focus on littering from vehicles and so we developed the team further to create two Waste Crime Officers who enforce against all waste crimes.

She said: "This approach provides more flexibility for us to carry out joint operations with the police, seize vehicles associated with fly tipping and raise awareness with householders of their responsibilities for ensuring their waste is disposed of responsibility. MBC continues to carry out foot patrols where there is evidence to show high levels of littering in an area."

Since June, Maidstone has issued 47 fixed penalty notices of which 13 were issued for littering.

TMBC said it would review its project after 12 months to assess its effectiveness.